Nb. Rybicki et al., OBSERVATIONS OF TIDAL FLUX BETWEEN A SUBMERSED AQUATIC PLANT STAND AND THE ADJACENT CHANNEL IN THE POTOMAC RIVER NEAR WASHINGTON, DC, Limnology and oceanography, 42(2), 1997, pp. 307-317
Dye injection studies and direct velocity and water-level measurements
were made in macrophyte stands and adjacent channels in order to obse
rve the effects of the macrophyte stand on flow and mass exchange in t
he tidal Potomac River. During the summer, dense stands of submersed a
quatic plants cover most shoals <2 m deep. Continuous summertime water
-level records within a submersed aquatic plant stand and in the adjac
ent channel revealed time-varying gradients in water-surface elevation
between the two areas. Water-level gradients are created by differing
rates of tidal water-level change in vegetated and unvegetated areas.
Results were consistent with the idea that on a rising tide the water
was slower to enter a macrophyte stand, and on a falling tide it was
slower to leave it. Differences in water elevation between the stand a
nd the open channel generated components of velocity in the stand that
were at right angles to the line of flow in the channel. Seasonal dif
ferences in flow speed and direction over the shoals indicate substant
ial differences in resistance to flow as a result of the vegetation.